Bella

Thursday last week that storm came through. The one that knocked out the power all around. And knocked out the power in Sam's building. He called me while I was getting Jack ready for school to tell me that he had arrived at work to no power. No telephone service either.

I called later in the morning to find out no power still. He was teleconferencing on the cell phone. And, at 10 am they sent everyone out for 2 hours while they worked at getting everything up and running.

And then at lunchtime he came home.

So sweet to have him home during the day. Lukey and I loved his company. And although we wanted to do something to celebrate, we decided to wait for Jack (who was still in school).

After Jack got home and we had some dinner, Sam thought it might be fun to go bowling. Haven't gone out bowling since we were dating. So we packed up the boys and headed into Greensburg. And the bowling lot was pretty empty. And so was the alley. . . But we found out that, of course, it was league night. And that there were no available lanes until 8:30. . . Disappointed. . .

We headed back to the Jeep to search out another bowling alley. . . And as we left the parking lot, Sam suggested we head up to the Humane Society. It wasn't too far away. . . Just to look.

Love looking at the puppies. We had peeked online, and saw they had golden retriever mixes. Too big for us. Wanted someone a little smaller this time (maybe lap size?).

We arrived just as the shelter was opening at 6 pm. Just as we did with Max. Because they had told us (when we were waiting for his litter of 12 to become available) that puppies go fast. People wait for the shelter to open just to get the puppies. . .

And when we walked in, there they were. . . Three little all black dachshunds. . .

And my heart jumped.

When Sam and I were dreamy-eyed dating. . . Dreaming of our future. . . [Have I told you on our first date I told him we would get married? No? Another story for another day. . .]. . . We knew we would have a dog. But, me, who wanted a house full of love (and obviously noise), wanted not just a dog, but a pack of dogs. A pack of dachshunds. Those cute little brown dogs full of energy and cute. That would run en mass to the door when Sam got home from work and jump all over him.

And Sam would give me that really? look. Grin his crooked grin. And tell me sure. But only if he got one all to himself. That he would paint a racing strip down it's back (either green or purple, I can't remember). And he would call him Izzy.

I was elated to see our dream puppies. And as Sam and the boys headed down the rest of the shelter hallway, I stayed to peek at them.

Two of them came up to the fence right away. The little boy and the little girl. The last girl stayed behind, stretching lazily from her nap. Getting up reluctantly to give a sniff before she went back to her warm spot to sleep. The little boy sniffed at me, tail wagging. As did the little girl. She jumped down from their little bed and ran to the cage door, wagging her tail. Ready to come out. Waiting.

Sam came back with Jack and Luke.

They're dachshunds. I said.

Do you want to see one? He asked me. That little grin at the corner of his mouth and his words.

Nodding. And I pointed to the little girl at the door. Her.

And we went back to the room where we first met our Max. With the sweet little black puppy. Who eagerly explored the room. The shelter worker told us that they had just become available last night and hadn't gotten their pictures up yet online because the storm had knocked out the power to the shelter director's home.

Fate. Divine intervention.

Not sure. But I think she was meant to be ours.

She gave eager kisses to all of our hands. And climbed into my lap.

I didn't expect to take her home. I just wanted to see her. To hold a puppy again. But she came home with us.

We decided right away at the shelter to name her Isabella. Sam could call her Izzy. And she would be my Bella.